N.A.T- Not Alone Team

Help Needed A family of 2 reached out today Who just lost their adult child and is in desperate need of help Of food... Hygiene and toiletries As we all know losing someone we love is extremely hard and finding the will, strength and courage to shop, work and move forward is extremely tough if you are able to help with donation so our team can go pick up what the family is in need of and or give them to get ahead please message Thank you

Belleville Downtown Improvement Association (BDIA) Chair Kathryn Brown gave deputation at City Hall and interviewed on the Lorne Brooker show last week. Brown i...s taking a regressive and self-serving stance against vulnerable people and the heroes (Not Alone Team Quinte, "NAT") who succeed in providing good meals for them (more than 100 a day) at Market Square almost every day except in Winter (it's outside). The attached photos are of the people Brown is attacking taken at a wonderful event held in a downtown Belleville business (116 Pinnacle) who supports NAT. Brown claims that by feeding people who need fed that NAT is drawing people she finds undesirable to downtown harming businesses. She wants NAT to stop serving meals and for police to arrest people she fears who might linger near her shop. She claims they pee on ATM's and swear at people. She made numerous platitudes to compassion but her bottom line is NIMBY plain and simple. I was proud to be part of a NAT event held inside a downtown Belleville business this past Thanksgiving. The 116Bistro was delighted to host the event and will again partner with NAT. I met with Bistro owner Dr. Al Ladhani today to discuss the matter. He remains exceedingly proud of NAT and was humbled to participate. He does not share Brown's views. None of the behavior that Kathryn Brown cited on The Lorne Brooker Show were in evidence on that Thanksgiving evening or any of the many times I've been privileged to cook for the Market Square meals. After the things Kathryn Brown said about NAT and the good people who's needs are the reason the group exists I'd like to remind her and her little NIMBY cabal that there's a better way to treat people, ALL people, than the direction Brown and the BDIA are insinuating. They want to shut NAT down and criminalize everyone she finds offensive. We're better than that. What about being proud that Belleville is a place where you can come to our town square (Market but you get my point universally) and eat, judgment free? What about establishing a water station, expanding the program so that it becomes chic to enjoy the good food being served for everyone. People who can would donate freely and enjoy a great meal. People who have a fear of people in difficult circumstances would become safely inoculated against those fears when they engage the real people who come to the square to eat. We should strive to normalize caring and goodness not reject it out of fear and ignorance. Brown claims that groups of people hang out and swear in front of her store and pee on ATM's. Well, there's safety in numbers. Perhaps if people were coming to the square because it's being promoted as an example of how to address a crisis progressively while also bringing people of all walks together over a meal, even Brown could overcome her prejudice. The entire nation would take notice of Belleville being the city that refuses to allow people to do without food and a positive social experience. That would result in more people (the kind Brown doesn't find undesirable) enjoying downtown Belleville and even her business. It would also inspire (or shame) other municipalities to follow our example. That would address Brown's fear that NAT is a magnet for people she finds undesirable and become the model to alleviate food insecurity across the country. This is an opportunity for Belleville to become a leader in how to address this crisis in an immediate and meaningful way. We have a chance to look great as a city simply by following our hearts and our consciences. See more

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